This means that the majority agree with the main idea of the bill and that it can now be discussed in greater detail.

The main idea of the bill is to ensure that asylum seekers who unlawfully arrive anywhere in Australia are subject to the same regional processing arrangements as asylum seekers who arrive at an excised offshore place such as Christmas Island.

Background of the Bill

This bill was introduced in response to a report by the Expert Panel on Asylum Seekers, particularly Recommendation 14 which states that: "the Migration Act 1958 be amended so that arrival anywhere on Australia by irregular maritime means will not provide individuals with a different lawful status than those who arrive in an excise offshore place".(Read the full report here. )

By implementing this recommendation, the bill extends the excision regime that was introduced in 2001 following the Tampa affair. That regime provides that asylum seekers who arrive in Australia at excised offshore places are unable to apply for protection visas (in effect, refugee status under Australian law) unless the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship decides it is in the public interest that they do so. The effect of this bill will be to extend the excision provisions to the whole country.(More information on the Migration Amendment (Unauthorised Maritime Arrivals and Other Measures) Bill 2012 is available on the bills digest (680 KB). Also see an ABC news report explaining the effect of this bill here.)

This means that all asylum seekers arriving by boat in either mainland Australia or an offshore Australian territory that has been excised are unable to apply for protection visas and will be sent to regional processing countries (currently Papua New Guinea and Nauru) for the processing of their refugee claims. The rationale behind this legislation is the need to discourage asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat because of the dangers involved.

(a) the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugees Convention) states that ‘contracting States shall apply the provisions of this Convention to refugees without discrimination as to race, religion or country of origin’;

(b) the Government suspended the processing of asylum seeker applications from Afghanistan on 9 April 2010; and

(c) there are more than 5000 persons currently being detained by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship on the mainland and Christmas Island;

(2) condemns the Rudd Gillard Government for their imposition of a discriminatory freeze of the assessment of asylum applications for persons from Afghanistan arriving in Australia; and

(3) calls for the introduction of proven policies proposed by the Coalition to address unprecedented irregular maritime arrivals to Australia, including:

(a) the application of temporary visas for all persons who have arrived illegally in Australia;

(b) the reopening of a third country processing centre in Nauru for irregular maritime arrivals to Australia;

(c) being prepared to turn around boats where the circumstances permit;

(d) streamline the appeals process by removing the panel system and replace with a review by a single case officer as practiced by the UNHCR;

(e) presuming against refugee status determination for persons who are reasonably believed to have destroyed or discarded their identity documentation; and

(f) return unsuccessful claimants for refugee status to their country of origin.

The majority voted in favour of a motion to agree to the remaining stages of the bill, including the government amendments as circulated.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through here. )

This means that the bill is now passed in the House of Representatives and can now be sent to the Senate for their consideration.

The bill was introduced to expand the offshore processing regime(Read more about Australia's offshore processing regime here. ) to include all people arriving at mainland Australia unlawfully by sea on or after 13 April 2006.(Read more about the bill, including its explanatory memoranda, here. For more background, read its bills digest (293 KB).) This means that all such people will be treated as if they had landed in an excised place, meaning an place that is excluded from the migration zone.

The bill was introduced to expand the offshore processing regime(Read more about Australia's offshore processing regime here. ) to include all people arriving at mainland Australia unlawfully by sea on or after 13 April 2006.(Read more about the bill, including its explanatory memoranda, here. For more background, read its bills digest (293 KB).) This means that all such people will be treated as if they had landed in an excised place, meaning an place that is excluded from the migration zone.

References

Yes

No

Passed by a small majority

How
"voted very strongly against"
is worked out

The MP's votes count towards a weighted average where the most important votes get
50 points,
less important votes get
10 points,
and less important votes for which the MP was absent get
2 points.
In important votes the MP gets awarded the full
50 points
for voting the same as the policy,
0 points
for voting against the policy, and
25 points
for not voting. In less important votes, the MP gets
10 points
for voting with the policy,
0 points
for voting against, and
1
(out of 2)
if absent.

Then, the number gets converted to a simple english language phrase based on the range of values it's within.

No of votes

Points

Out of

Most important votes (50 points)

MP voted with policy

0

0

0

MP voted against policy

0

0

0

MP absent

0

0

0

Less important votes (10 points)

MP voted with policy

0

0

0

MP voted against policy

3

0

30

Less important absentees (2 points)

MP absent*

1

1

2

Total:

1

32

*Pressure of other work means MPs or
Senators are not always available to vote – it does not always
indicate they have abstained. Therefore, being absent on a less
important vote makes a disproportionatly small
difference.